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Abstract—This research purposed to study background and
opportunity of performing Sadhukarn song with the process of
ethnomusicology. The conclusion is as follows: Sadhukarn song is
ancient and no one knows who the composer is and when they were
composed. Most songs’ histories legendarily link to Buddhism and
Hinduism together. The songs mention the event that Shiva performs
his power to the Buddha by playing hide and seek and he is defeated
because the Buddha transformed into an atom, hiding at the tip of
Shiva’s hair. In consequence, Shiva is incapable of searching for him.
At the end, Shiva must arrange a musical group to pay respect to
Sadhukarn song. Sadhukarn is the song that means to pay respect to
the three refuges and the great deities. It connects to the belief in
Buddhism and Hinduism. The opportunity to perform the song is
appropriate for rituals. In terms of Thai classical music, to perform
Sadhukarn song is for the propitious ceremonies that are sacred. The
sacred ceremonies are as follows: 1) royal ceremonies: royal
celebration of birth ceremony, royal ordination ceremony, the Royal
Kathina Ceremony, the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, Visakha Bucha
ceremony, the Royal Ceremony to change gold seasonal attire of the
Emerald Buddha, Celebration for His Majesty the King's Birthday
Anniversary, and Royal cremation ceremony. 2) General ceremonies:
ordination ceremony, house-blessing ceremony, Kathina ceremony,
robe offering ceremony, traditional mahajati preaching, and the
ceremony of paying homage and respect to music teachers.
Moreover, they are applied as the first song to learn Thai classical
music.
Keywords— Sadhukarn Song, Thai Rituals.
I. INTRODUCTION
In the present way of life, an individual is incapable of
fleeing from the influence of music. No matter what they are
doing, where they are, and when, the music is all around in
every place and time. Music, therefore, is valuable to the way
of human’s life. The human’s society in the past is simple.
Their lifestyle is not complicated. Men receive the influence
from environments and things that always change, building the
evolution in many aspects of daily life, tradition, and arts, all
evolve together. Apart from the society and environment, the
human is a part of the changeable mechanism as well. (Surasak
Jamnongsarn.1999:1).
Music is always developed, from one generation to one
generation. Because people in every era or every group
differently learn and receive knowledge and ideas from the
environment, culture, customs, and tradition, resulting in the
different of music in times and society. (Srisuk
Wullipodom..1992:2). Thai classical music has been inherited
Dheeraratn Srichuangchote, Dusanee Phasukdee, Tawich Kulawong and
Nitipan Suwat all are with the Music Department, Faculty of Humanities and
Social Sciences Kanchanaburi Rajabhat University, Thailand
from the past to the present day and has been developed with
Thai people’s lifestyle for all along. Thai classical music takes
the great role in many people’s activities, such as religious
rituals, favorable and unfavorable rituals, royal ceremonies,
entertainment, performances, and amusements (Nittaya
Rusamai. 2009:1)
Sadhukarn is the important song that relates to many rituals,
royal ceremonies, and general ceremonies. Its significant role
has been inherited since the ancient days. In the present day,
they are regarded as the high-class music. Old masters
composed the songs to pay homage and respect, to be
performed in the sacred opportunity; furthermore, the songs
are originated from the legend about Buddhism and Hinduism.
In Thai classical music society, they use these songs to play in
the Buddhist rituals, for example, when the president lights the
candles to worship the three refuges while the monks do the
preaching. (Narongchai Pidokrajt. 1991:1). As
aforementioned, the author interests in studying background
and opportunity to perform Sadhukarn song with the purpose
to conserve Thai music as the national art and culture through
the later time.
II. METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH
The study of background and opportunity to perform
Sadhukarn song was a qualitative research in
ethnomusicology. The first method is to do the in-depth
interview with national artists in Thai classical music. The
objective of an interview is to talk with someone to learn about
something in – depth from the person’s point of view, which is
very useful and typical and they are very flexible. In an
interview, the researcher meets with the interviewee in person.
After the participatory observation, the researcher observed
the behavior and the act of the phenomenon which the author
is interested in studying and recorded for the description,
analysis, and interpretation of its meanings. For the
observation, the researcher applied the experience and
interpretations (of events, persons, or acts) to access the results
and conclusion. Information received from documents,
textbooks, research, and articles about the background and
opportunity to play Sadhukarn song in rituals would be
analyzed and presented in the descriptive analytical research.
Sadhukarn Song, the Song in Thai Rituals
Dheeraratn Srichuangchote, Dusanee Phasukdee, Tawich Kulawong and Nitipan Suwat
11th International Conference on Education, Humanities, Social Sciences and Management (EHSSM-18) March 21-23, 2018 Istanbul (Turkey)
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III. RESULT
A. Background of Sadhukarn Song
According to the study of documents that relate to the
background of Sadhukarn song, the history is as follows:
Narongchai Pidokrat, stated about the history in Encyclopedia
of Thai music (1999:427) that Sadhunkarn and Phleng na-phat
are the first songs in the evening prelude set meaning the
homage and respect towards the sacred three refuges, deities,
and teachers and masters. The chance to perform Sadhukarn is
when the monks do the preaching when the dancers play the
role of holy people such as hermit, angel, hero, heroine, and
giants. Moreover, it is used as the theme song of Thossaphon
chapter in the great preaching ceremonies (Maha Jakata). The
type of Sadhunkarn song is to start hitting the two-faced drum
and then Ra-nat Ake by playing the ending melody as the
prelude. After that, the other instruments will play. The ending
is called “Sadhukarn Tiew-Noi or gods open the world, using
the rhythm overlaying specifically, which is called “Tha.”
Sangad Phukhaotong (1991:94) said about Sadhukarn song
in the article the access to Thai music in the 16th Thai music
fair in Matthayom level that, for Sadhunkarn song, it is
regarded as the high-class Phleng na-phat which Thai classical
musicians must pay homage and account the song of the
master. The deprivation of homage might lead the musicians to
self-disaster. For this reason, the students or the beginner will
practice this song. Most play with the large circle Gong, using
the instrument inherited from their teacher. The students must
learn with homage and attention if they lack attention, it might
lead them to self-disaster. However, if the students are able to
learn until the end of the song and the can remember all the
phases; they can remember the other songs because the other
songs are included in Sadhunkarn song. In addition, the song
also mentions the background which is amazingly strange than
the other songs. Indeed, as Thai music teachers regulate many
conducts towards Sadhukarn song; this is their psychological
method because to perform the song with Piphat requires the
good memory which is very important for the performers.
As for the difference of Sadhukarn song from the other
songs, one typical characteristic is the lyrics are prose. The
tune created by Thai composers is similar to the composition
of literature as they consist of verse and prose. We can
mesmerize verse better than prose because we depend on the
rhyme so we can recall the later message from the verb and the
sound without recalling the meaning. Thus, it gives us the
chance to guess correctly. For prose, it is harder to guess. Like
Sadhukarn song, it is a prose. Therefore, the ending sound of
the message will not link to the next sentence. In other words,
one sentence ends solely, without rhyme or relation to the next
sentence. For this reason, it is quite hard to remember but it
does not overdo. As a result, Sadhunkarn song is similar to the
song for testing ability and memory for the students who begin
to learn Piphat instruments.
Additionally, the beliefs about its history are as follows:
Jan Tovisuth mentioned “the background of Sadhunkarn song”
in the third Thai classical music book for Matthayom Level
(1977: 12-13) that when the Lord Buddha reached the
enlightenment in the Buddhist era. His fame and high
reputation spread in the three worlds. One day, the group of
angels ascended from heaven in order to listen to the preaching
in front of the Lord Buddha and the heaven was silent because
all the angels were not there. When Shiva deity went out for
the deity meeting, no other deities and angels welcome him.
There were some but a few. The great deity was suspicious so
he asked Nonthi deity and the anger consumed after the
realization, including the Buddha. He asked Uma (Parvati)
goddess and Nonthi to visit the human world. As he saw the
other gods and angels listening to the preaching, Shiva, Uma,
and Nonthi, including his angelic servants began to dance and
entertain loudly aiming at destroying the attention of the deity
in the Dhamma circle. With the holy power of the Lord
Buddha or the other, no one heard the annoying sound but they
listened calmly. Shiva the great god was amazed so he entered
inside and faced the Lord Buddha. The god challenged him to
play hide and seek. The Lord accepted the challenge and
kindly asked the god to hide first because he was the
challenger. Shiva transformed himself into dust and hid
himself in the jewel on the top of Brahma’s palace. Due to his
wonderful insight, the Lord Buddha let the other divine beings
see too. Shiva hid himself three times and the last time, he hid
in the underworld. The Buddha could find him and let the
other see his power. When it was his turn to hide, he
transformed himself into an atom hiding at the tip of Shiva’s
hair. Shiva used his radar to search for him everywhere but
could not find the Buddha so he surrendered. When the great
lord heard his surrender, he released his aura and went out of
the hiding place. He came out of the hair of Shiva. Even
though Shiva lost, he still had pride. In order to let the great
god abandon the pride, the Buddha did not get out of the
hiding place but stay at his hair even though he was persuaded,
he would not move. The Buddha said if Shiva really
surrendered to him, the great god must arrange the musical
band to pay the homage for him. With this condition, he would
get out of the hiding place. Shiva must accept and find the
musical band to play the song as paying homage to Buddhism
which is called “Sadhukarn.” And the Lord Buddha appeared.
As a result, this turns to a tradition that we must play music for
paying homage or respect with Sadhukarn song. The song is
regarded as the song of the sacred song, the same way we
offered flower and candle-lights to pay respect.
Sompop Khamprasert stated about the history of Sadhukarn
song in the book, how to learn music and play it well,
(1989:23) that in the Buddhist era, Bodhisattva reached
Arahant and Nirvana, resulting in the happiness and
peacefulness of the three worlds. One day, Indra deity would
like to arrange the deity meeting but the other gods did not
attend so he asked the other god in the meeting and realized
that the absent gods were listening to the Buddha’s preaching.
He was angry and envy. The god would like to play the lord
Buddha to see his power and the challenge began. They played
hide and seek and the result was Indra’s defeat. In Buddhism,
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“Hide and Seek Posture” was created due to this legend. When
the great lord received the victory, Indra summoned the lord to
appear but as Buddha saw his pride, he turned indifferent to
the summoning. Indra must order the gods and angels to pay
homage to him; therefore, the great lord appeared. At that
time, he was respected as the great founder and the great
master of gods, angels, and humans.
Samran Koedpon, a National Artist (Thai classical music)
of the year 2005, (Samran Koedpon.2017: Interview), said
about Sadhukarn song that it is a Phleng na-phat included in
the the morning prelude, the evening prelude, and the overture
for preaching. This song is very significant to Thai musicians,
especially those who are in Piphat because the beginner must
learn to practice this song before the others, specifically those
who study Piphat instrument. The teacher will catch the
student’s hands to hit the large circle Gong to play Sadhukarn,
hitting the beginning of the music three times before
continuing the song until the end. When they are fluent, they
can play the other songs. The reason is the melody of the large
circle Gong in Sadhukarn is the basic lesson. When they can
play the song fluently, they can learn the other songs such as
Tra Homrong, drum songs, and ching song, and others.
Fig. 1: “Lord Buddha hides on the head of Shiva/Bhrama”
B. Opportunity of using Sadhukarn Song
Thai music is important to Thai people’s daily life, from
birth to death, relating to traditions and rituals which cannot be
separated. The music used in rituals can be divided into 2
types which are royal ceremonies or general ceremonies.
According to the study of customs and rituals, it was found
that Sadhukarn song has been used in these following rituals
and ceremonies:
Sadhunkarn in Royal Ceremonies
To perform Sadhukarn in royal ceremonies, the researcher
collected data from Master Jiras Archnarong, Thai music
specialist (Orchestra Artist level 8), Thai orchestra group,
Office of Performing Arts of Fine Art Department, and a
National Artist in Thai musical performance of the year 2002.
Master Jiras Archnarong (Jiras Archanarong.2017: Interview)
gave important information about Sadhunkarn song used in the
royal ceremonies as follows:
1) Royal Celebration of Birth Ceremony
When the queen consort is about to giving birth,
Prakhom officers who are positioned to
play trumpet, conch shell, and piphat received the signal
from the medic team and Bureau of the Royal Household,
they will hit the victory Gong and the other will start
playing Sadhukarn song.
2) Royal ordination ceremony
Due to the fact that all Thai kings are the great Buddhist
and the Buddhist supporter, when
the time comes, he must enter the ordination. Piphat band
will play Sadhukarn song when he turns to monkhood.
3) Royal Kathina Ceremony
This royal ceremony is when the king goes to offer
Kathina or appoint the representative to do the activity.
In the royal ceremony, Piphat band and trumpet and
conch shell band will start playing when they see the king
arrives at Ubosot. The trumpet and conch shell band start
playing first followed by Piphat who plays the slow
rhythm song until the king prostates the Buddha image
and returns to the royal seat, the song stops. Next, when
the king lights the candles to worship the three refuges.
Before he offers Kathina, the officer will hit the bell to
give the signal and Piphat band will perform Sadhukarn
song until the officer hit bell again, the band must stop
playing.
4) Royal Ploughing Ceremony
This ceremony takes two days. On the first day of royal
ploughing ceremony will be organized at Ubosot of Wat
Phra Kaew in the grand palace. Piphat band will perform
Sadhukarn song while the king or his representative
lightes the candles to worship the three refuges. On the
second day, the ceremony begins at the morning in
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Sanum Luang. The king will appoint Permanent
Secretary for Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to
be Phraya Raek Na. In the ancient days, while Phraya
Raek Na performed the ritual, ploughing, and sowing or
other activities, there would be no piphat performing.
Later in the reign of King Rama 9, Piphat musical band
has been included in the ritual. When Phraya Raek Na
makes a wish and picks up the panung which has 3 sizes
available. The music band will play Sadhukarn song.
5) Visakha Bucha ceremony
Visakha Bucha ceremony is arranged at Wat Phra Kaew
in the grand palace, the 14th day of the waxing moon in
the 6th lunar month. Piphat band will perform Sadhukarn
while the monk receives the fabric. And on the 15th day
of the waxing moon in the 6th lunar month, Piphat band
will perform this song during the patriarch does the
preaching.
6) Royal Ceremony to change gold seasonal attire of the
Emerald Buddha
Royal ceremony to change gold seasonal attire of the
Emerald Buddha has been organized three times a year.
Hot season, the 1st waning moon in the 4th lunar
month or around March
Rain season, the 1st waning moon in the 8th lunar
month or around July
Cold season, the 1st waning moon in the 12th lunar
month or around November
Piphat will perform Sadhukarn song while the king or
his representative takes off
the seasonal attire.
7) Celebration for His Majesty the King's Birthday
Anniversary
Piphat will perform Sadhukarn song while the king lights
the candles to worship the three refuges.
8) Royal cremation ceremony
Fig. 2: “Teacher catches the student hand to play Sadhukarn song
with the large circle Gong”
Sadhunkarn in General Ceremonies For the ceremonies of general people, the author
interviewed Samran Koedpon, a National Artist in Thai
classical music of the year 2005. Samran Koedpon (Samran
Koedpon.2017: Interview) explained about Sadhukarn in the
normal ceremonies as follows: People play Sadhukarn song in
the auspicious ceremonies such as house-blessing ceremony,
Maha Jakata. The ritual begins with the performance of Piphat
playing the morning prelude, the evening prelude which
includes Sadhukarn song. When it is time for Sangha ritual, the
song will be performed during the lighting of candles. In Maha
Jakata, it is the theme song of Thossaphon chapter in the great
preaching ceremonies, which is the first chapter. When
Thossaphon chapter ends, piphat continues playing the song.
Moreover, it has been played during the ceremony of
paying homage and respect to music teachers and is the first
song that Thai music teachers teach their students, due to the
fact that the melody covers Gong or the basic main melody for
continuing studying the next songs. Regarding the old
tradition, the Thai musical students, especially the musicians in
Piphat must learn Sadhukarn song first and the teacher will
catch their hand to play the large circle Gong at the first verse
of the song for three times. After that, the students will learn
the song until the end and they will continue learning the other
songs.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
Sadhukarn is an old song without the name of the composer
and the time of its creation is still a mystery. According to the
legend of its history, the story is about the battle between the
Lord Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and the high god of
Hinduism. There are Shiva, Bhrama, and Indra. They played
hide and seek to test each other’s power and the great lord won
the gods. The deity must perform Sadhukarn song to summon
the great lord out of the hiding place. In regards to the legend,
Sadhukarn song relates to Buddhism and Hinduism which
means to pay homage and respect to the three refuges and
sacred beings. Therefore, the old masters in Thai music
perform this song in the religious ritual or sacred ritual or
auspicious ritual. In addition, it is the first song to practice
with the large circle Gong before learning the other songs.
A. Opportunities of the performance
Sadhukarn song is the song performing in royal ceremonies
and general ceremonies which can be concluded as follows:
Sadhunkarn in General Ceremonies
Royal Celebration of Birth Ceremony
Royal ordination ceremony
Royal Kathina Ceremony
Royal Ploughing Ceremony
Visakha Bucha ceremony
Royal Ceremony to change gold seasonal attire of
the Emerald Buddha
Celebration for His Majesty the King's Birthday
Anniversary
Royal cremation ceremony
Sadhunkarn in General Ceremonies
General auspicious rituals: house-blessing
ceremony
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Kathina Ceremony
Robe offering ceremony
Great preaching ceremonies
Ceremony of paying homage and respect to music
teachers
It is evident that Sadhukarn song is an important song that
has been used in royal ceremonies and general ceremonies
which the meaning demonstrates homage and respect to the
sacred beings: the three refuges, gods and goddess, and ancient
masters.
B. Sadhunkarn Music Note
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V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to express the deepest appreciation to
Kanchanaburu Rajabhat University where has given valuable
support and special thank you to a National artist in thai
musical performance who gave a precious information.
REFERENCES
[1] Jan Tovisuth. The background of Sadhunkarn song in the third Thai
classical music book for Matthayom Level.,
(n.p.), 1977
[2] Jiras Archanarong. A National Artist in Thai musical performance of
the year 2002. Interview, 10 May 2017.
[3] Narongchai Pidokrajt. Sadhukarn : Analysis of the Gong Wong Yai
Melody. Master of Arts, Mahidol University, 1991.
[4] Narongchai Pidokrajt. Encyclopedia of Thai Song. Bangkok:
Ruenkaew Printing, 1999.
[5] Nittaya Rusamai. A Study of Melody Sarathee. Master of Fine Arts in
Ethnomusicology, Sinakharinwirot University, 2009.
[6] Srisuk Wullipodom. Music and Classical Dance of The Royal.
Bangkok: Bangkok Bank, 1992
[7] Sompop Khamprasert. How to learn music and play it well. Nakhon
Pathom: Silpakorn University (Nakhon Pathom Campus), 1989
[8] Sangad Phukhaotong. The access to Thai music in the 16th Thai music
fair in Matthayom level. Bangkok: P.N. Printing Company, 1991
[9] Surasak Jamnongsarn. A study of Ranard Ek variations in Pleng Pae
Sam Chanan. Master of Fine Arts in Ethnomusicology, Sinakharinwirot
University, 1999.
[10] Samran Koedpon. A National Artist in Thai musical performance of the
year 2005. Interview, 27 February 2017.
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